Within me
by AnnoyingUser
Summary: Things couldn't be just black and white, for the world was made of greys, some lighter, others darker. Yet, Oliver cursed fate for making him face that light coloured pumpkin, his guilty whim, being consumed by a pitch black darkness.


**Within me: -2**  
_(Things couldn't be just black and white, for the world was made of greys, some lighter, others darker. Yet, Oliver cursed fate for making him face that light coloured pumpkin, his guilty whim, being consumed by a pitch black darkness.)_

A/N:  
Finally finished!  
It took me a life (half a year) to have the courage to post this. I did my best, and I think is presentable me what you think about it! I actually believe that my writing is too tiresome, not active. I don't know how to describe it. Any advises? Thank you so much for reading!  
Annoying user.  
**I OWN NOTHING.**

_Day: -2, October, Friday __  
__(Welcome home) _

Mai was stuck. Her foot firmly pasted on the last step of the stairs in front of the hallway to the apartments, where the second door at her right waited wide open with the promise of a heater and a hot tea cup.

Yet, she was frozen in place.

She even had the wire extension that Naru asked-demanded ten minutes ago, another great reason to be ASAP.

But she couldn't move. Not while her gut twisted with such a dread. And to be honest with herself, she was beyond terrified. It was her third time going in and out of the apartment where SPR was having their case. And three times she passed through that same hallway, and just then she noticed this feeling.

Most of the times Mai wasn't aware of them, this instincts. She didn't realise any change in her behaviour until someone told her that it was actually happening; like falling asleep with her eyes open or unconsciously avoiding hazardous places. Mai couldn't feel it.

And it scared her more than anything when this feelings overwhelmed her.

The blood red light from the departing sun made her feel even more skittish.

But, it was just irrational fear.

Right?

Again her gut twisted and revolved with anticipation.

A guttural laugh snapped her out of her little panic attack, Bou-san's laughter reassured her a little bit. She wasn't alone there. It was just a stupid hallway.

Some way or another, she always had to paste herself together with a glue made out of sheer courage, and this time was no different. She forced herself to get into the apartment.  
She breathed hard, she could do it!

Her foot hesitantly moved, then the other one. She could do it!

She felt a bunch of bats flying crazily inside her stomach. Mai patted her belly trying to give herself a little of comfort.

Slowly but surely she made her way to the door, and she sighed.

Nobody had expected much from the case, actually, but now she wasn't so sure about that.  
At the beginning of the week Akimoto Haruna –a very sweet woman, came to the office asking for help with her troublesome apartment.

Apparently there was something or someone moving things around and making weird voices. Poor woman, she even showed a video to the boss in her cell phone to prove her story; it was about some keys being thrown out from a low table to the open window. Mai was awed at the sight until the creepy giggle vibrated through the gadget.

Naru didn't seem to be interested at all... well... less than usual. He didn't bend lightly to hear her better. And he had this little quirks that give him away: he was cross legged, hands playing with his pen and totally unfazed with the woman. Mind her surprise when he said he was taking the case. Yasuhara came to his rescue with the funny theory of him wanting to take it easy after the last fiasco with the police officer.

As if! Naru?! Taking it easy?! No way!

Mai knew that Naru took it because he was bored. It had been a month since they actually had a decent client in the office and she believed that he was getting sick of his own cave.  
Mai gave a wary grin at the thought.

Unfortunately all her excitement at the beginning of day had vanished and now she just wanted to drop the wire rolled up in her arm, turn around, and run.

But no. She was poor, and the one who gave her the pay checks was a vengeful bastard.  
Courage, Mai! COURAGE!

With cautious steps she moved to the delicate voice of their client coming from inside the open door.

Mai sighed again. She was going to be fine. And she couldn't be such scared baby all the time if she wanted to keep the job, anyway.

A sudden handgrip on her shoulder made her jump and scream in surprise. Fingers grappled into her jacket and forcefully made her turn around.

While spinning, her heart shrank thinking of the worst. She was doomed!

A goner!

Her gut exploded in panic.

But it was just an egg headed man. No creepy ghoul or a freaky entity, just an old bald man wearing a dirty inner shirt and way to short shorts for the morbid imagination. He looked at her as if she had grown a second head or something.

Her hands instantly hugged her terrorised heart and finally let herself breath again.

The bald man keep staring at her. And she stared back. Neither say a thing for a while.

Speaking of awkward.

The little eyes of the man proceeded to scan her from head to toe and Mai couldn't be more uncomfortable, and then a spark of anger overcome her when the old man eyes stopped directly at her lacking chest and short skirt.

Mai shoved the man's grip off of her and with contained anger she greeted him.  
"Do you need something, Sir?"

And the old fart smiled slyly at the girl, aggravating her even more. "So you're one of those geeky ghost busters, eh?" Mai scowled at the lacking definition of her job. "Kitten doesn't look half bad, yeah?"

The girl's eyes almost popped out of her head in disbelief! Did he just call her kitten?!  
But she bit her cheek when the nagging remark of her bossy boss rang on her head scolding her again and again about her short temper.

She inwardly snorted at the thought.

"Is so good that you people are finally helping Haruna-san!" His tone became fake and cheeky "Those voices can be so scary in the night. I swear I can hear it calling my name at times!"  
This information could have rang some bells in her head if the old fart had not taken a step closer into her private space.

She took a step back and forced a smile. "Then I think I should get started, no?" But before she could slip away, the man yanked her again and Mai accidentally dropped the wire.

He showed a stupid attempt of a flirting smile. "Yes, yes Kitten, but remember if you need anything please look for me at the 402" and he winked at her.

He WINKED at her!

That was it. The old fart had finally boiled the last drop of her forced politeness. She knew she had to be careful when alone with men, and she knew to be respectful to the elderly. Her parents had taught her better! But Taniyama Mai was never known for a cool and repressed demeanour.

She frowned until her nose was wrinkled, and glared at the old fart with her dirtiest look directly to the amused little ones of the old fart.

But just before Mai was about to set her mouth free and shout some sense to him, the old man gasped.

He instantly jerked his hand off her, as if her anger burned him.

Mai's stomach twirled in satisfaction when the man almost ran into his apartment, not without giving a last glance at something behind her.

When the door closed she exhaled.

She could barely believe it. She scared a man off! And just with a glare! She was finally learning something useful with the daily treatment of her narcissist boss. Maybe she shouldn't be so happy about her boss attitude rubbing on her... Oh well!

She gave a last sneer to the 402 door and turned around happily back to work, and she tried to copy the smug smirk she was so used to see.

Mai's nose collided with a soft black shirt with a smell of tea. Her heart went manic when she realised what was it, and Mai shuddered when she meet the stare of her ever handsome boss.  
He had grown at least two inches in the last summer, and his face became sharper, losing a bit more of his boyish looks. He had physically changed a lot, but he still was the same ass.  
An ass way too close to her personal space to be impossible for her cheeks not to set on fire.  
Damned to hell his cat-like-steps!

Mai practically jumped in surprise when he bended to take the wire from her feet, and reddened even more with a glimpse of a half smirk in his dreamy lips.

It took her some time to know he was actually mocking her.

"Stop getting yourself in trouble." His voice could be emotionless but she saw in his amusement with her bad luck.

Such an annoying face.

Mai just wanted to scream to the jerk all her repertory of curses to see if she could ever cause any reaction on that façade of his. But that day wasn't the day, she kept her mouth shut and followed him to the apartment.

At that point she was too distracted with Naru and her emotionally unstable heart to acknowledge her warning gut.

Has it been mentioned that this case was the smallest place where Japan SPR has ever worked in?  
The flat was simple and fit perfectly for a little family of three. It consisted of a kitchenette of the same size of the one in the office, a little living-room of six tatamis, a pair of rooms of three tatamis each, and finally a bathroom. Even if the place was small it had a cosy thing into it —everything Mai could ever dream for.

They were only using three cameras for the rooms and a mic in the living-room for the weird voice.  
Also because of the lack of space they leaved the van as base, with all the screens and those machines she was not allowed to touch.

Even the people working for the case was less than normal. Just Naru, Lin, the monk and she. Yasuhara was busy with college stuff, Ayako was doing hospital shift, Masako was filming, and John was in Australia. It was sad because she hadn't seen them in months.

"Where do you think this occurrence happen the most?" The soft and monotone voice of her boss took her attention.

Akimoto-san answered pointing at the living-room. "The things that disappear always reappear under the table, and at night the voice seems to come from there."

Naru wrote something on his notebook.

"How do you describe the voice?"

The woman hugged herself.

"Sometimes it's too creepy to understand." She shifted uncomfortable, "Other times it sounds like a crowd of people and also like a kid—like my youngest son."

Akimoto Akira, a ten years old boy, blushed bright red when everyone eyes were on him. He was a very cute boy, with a smaller complexion than most kids his age, and uncommon curly hair. Mai's maternal side just wanted to pinch his cheeks and comb his pretty hair.

"But he has been sleeping with us because of the cold, so it's not possible for him to be the voice."  
The boy pouted in embarrassment.

"And your daughter, Akimoto-san?"

The woman stroked the head of her child.

"She must be at her job, she will be back around eight."

Naru took a file with a bunch of papers, and took one out.

"What can you tell us about Akimoto Gou" with the name the woman face fell and in her lips was painted a very very sad smile. Akira's ears pecked with curiosity and his eyes were locked at the altar of dark wood in the corner of the living room.

"You don't think it could be him, do you?"

A slow shiver ran up in Mai's back, because it was a horrendous and realistic possibility.  
Naru shook his head. "We don't have enough information to say what is doing this."

The woman sighed.

"My husband was a good man, he had a short temper but he always took grate care of us. He worked in the police, and died five years ago in an incident. Three years after that we moved to this apartment."

Mai felt a pang in her heart for the pained expression in the woman face. The monk beside her patted her back softly, well aware of his little friend's empathic nature.

"But if it was him, shouldn't this... thing... It should have started five years ago, shouldn't it?" Haruna insisted.

Her distress was more than evident, affecting the kid next to her, making him stare warily at the team. Akira was next to interview and the last thing that Naru needed was an uncooperative child.  
He took his time to answer carefully.

"At this point, I cannot say if the reason of this happenings are even from a supernatural causes, yet. And if it is, there can be a great number of things that can cause this type of activities more possible than the remanding entities of late family members. And if it was to be the case, my team and I will do our best to make the entity rest in peace as quickly as possible."

The woman sighed with a ghost of a smile, the boy had a weird language for someone of his age, and his no-nonsense attitude just give him more charm. He was pretty funny.

Mai smiled with the little giggle from their client, as if the room had brightened.

The information from the boy was no different from his mother. He just said that he heard the thing calling his and his sister's names, and it constantly said: "I'm back, I'm bored".

It was a boring first day in the case. They only put cameras, measured the temperature of the rooms, and interviews everywhere. The neighbours of the last two floors said the same thing: a weird voice at night.

To Mai's pleasure the man from 402 didn't came out to answer the door.

There were actually a lot of rumours on the building. The cursed apartment 403—the one they were working at. Also they said that the woman owner of the building was actually a man. A chubby little boy told Mai that the woman in 202 was a witch. And a year ago this crazy man who lived in there killed himself from overdosing.

The last took Naru's interest, sending Lin to find some information of said man.  
The scary witch at 202 was just visual-key woman with a very rude attitude. She just slammed the door at the sight of monk face.

"She is a shy fan." Bou-san had joked.

At the end of the day Haruna's daughter, Nanami, arrived also in a bad mood. She was a year older than Mai, and like her brother she was small and had curly hair.

Nanami avoided the interview with all her might. She refused to speak to any of the team members and she disappeared into her room.

"You can go now Mai." Naru pinched his nose in annoyance. It was actually late and just Lin and Naru where going to stay at the van. Her boss looked tired and she didn't like the idea of both men trying to sleep in such an uncomfortable place, memories of a restless Naru made her feel bad.

"Don't you wanna last cup of tea?" Mai bit her lips. That was the last thing she could do for him, anyway.

He boldly leered at her. His blue eyes scanned hers, deep in his own thoughts Mai felt he was looking for something, and she blushed, suddenly wishing she hadn't said a thing.  
He just nodded and Mai asked for permission to use the kitchenette before leaving with Bou-san to the subway to go home.

"Mai, tomorrow try to be here IN time." Naru commented from the living-room while sipping his tea.  
"GOODNIGHT!" She snapped at his smart ass remark.

Mai closed the door behind her with less force she had actually liked. Because she wasn't rude and uncaring. Like some jerks. It was not her door.

"He's a pain in the ass!"

The monk laughed.


End file.
